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Baptist

• Christian Community Authorized to Meet After Many Years

  

  The Baptist community in the village of Aliabad understands what it means to wait patiently. For 25 years, these believers have sought legal status but were repeatedly ignored or denied. Police have regularly raided their church meetings and seized religious literature. Despite the opposition, the church continued to gather for teaching and worship while attempting to get official status.

• Books Banned in Luhansk

  

  Authorities in the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine have banned 12 books, including a popular translation of the Gospel of John, calling them "extremist" materials. The November 26th ban came a week after the Luhansk Supreme Court overturned a ruling ordering the destruction of books belonging to a Baptist pastor. Along with the Gospel of John, the banned books include the main hymnbook used by the Council of Churches Baptists, a regular magazine published by the church group, as well as children's books.

• Raided Churches Ordered to Stop

  

  Three Baptist churches in the city of Taraz have been subjected to raids from anti-terrorism officers in recent weeks. Despite claiming "our laws don't ban praying," officials defend their punishment of those who meet for worship without state permission.

• Military Joins in Church Raid

  

  On November 25th, a Baptist church in Tashkent was raided. While not an unusual situation, this is the first time such a raid included members of the Uzbek military, as the National Guard joined 20 plain clothes officials from the secret police, the Justice Ministry, and the district police.

  Official searched throughout the building, confiscating over 7,000 items - including literature, songbooks and DVDs. Fourteen of the church attendees were taken to the police station where they were detained for over nine hours and then forced to sign statements that they had participated in an "unauthorized meeting."

• Registration Deadline Passes for Luhansk Churches

  

  Since rebels in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine declared independence in 2014, the self-declared government has oppressed religious groups in various ways. As part of their efforts to control the churches, the Luhansk State Security Ministry announced a complete ban on one Baptist denomination for not submitting to compulsory registration. For more information, click here.